The moral and social dimensions of gratitude

R Weiss - The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 1985 - search.proquest.com
R Weiss
The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 1985search.proquest.com
Gratitude resists classification: is it (a) a social grace, a “norm of etiquette,”(b) a moral
requirement, duty, or obligation, like keeping a promise or paying a debt, or (c) a feeling or
attitude? Though philosophers have counted gratitude among the most important of virtues, º
and have sought in many cases to make it a moral requirement, its unspecific content,
dictated largely by social convention when dictated at all, makes it somewhat less amenable
to classification as a stringent moral obligation and somewhat more amenable to placement …
Gratitude resists classification: is it (a) a social grace, a “norm of etiquette,”(b) a moral requirement, duty, or obligation, like keeping a promise or paying a debt, or (c) a feeling or attitude? Though philosophers have counted gratitude among the most important of virtues, º and have sought in many cases to make it a moral requirement, its unspecific content, dictated largely by social convention when dictated at all, makes it somewhat less amenable to classification as a stringent moral obligation and somewhat more amenable to placement in the category of the social grace. Yet, we do speak of “debts of gratitude,” presumably implying by this phrase moral obligation. If, however, we regard gratitude as morally required, where does this feeling or attitude fit in?: feelings and attitudes are traditionally thought to be less within our control than acting and refraining and hence not the sorts of thing that can be fairly required of us. Nevertheless, how could an act of gratitude qualify as such in the absence of any grateful feeling or attitude?
The way out of this confusion, as I see it, is to allow gratitude two dimensions, moral and social, both of which carry with them their own requirements. I shall attempt to show in this paper (a) that the moral aspect of gratitude consists precisely of a required grateful feeling or attitude toward one's benefactor (under certain circumstances), and (b) that demonstrations or expressions of gratitude are social requirements
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